Daughter of Sunlight
by FionfTheCat
Summary: Ella Sun is just a normal 14 year old Chinese kid. Okay, not so normal. So what if she can play every instrument out there, and has really good hearing and archery skills? So what if her twin sister, Lauren, is a tad on the dramatic side? So what if she never knew her father? The story of how one girl's life goes completely haywire.
1. In Which I Abuse a Guy's Crotch

**Hi guys! This is FionfTheCat back with another story, only this time, iloveplayrehearsal13 has agreed to edit this. This is sort of another idea that I had a while back, and I'm finally putting it into action. The only thing is, you're probably seeing this 2 months after I'm writing it, because I decided to prewrite a couple chapters just so I could keep up. Also, I wrote this in a google doc so the font looks weird because I had to copy and paste it. I don't know if it looks weird for you guys too.**

**WARNING! Some mentions of sex, a couple curse words here and there.**

**Enjoy!**

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Chapter 1

My eyes fly open at dawn. I've always had this uncanny sense of knowing when the sun would come up, and I make it a habit to get up early to watch the sunrise. My twin sister, Lauren, is still sleeping in her bed, so I stand up quietly, brush my teeth, put on my school uniform, then step out onto the balcony of our dormitory.

A whirlwind of color greets me. Abstract patches of yellow, red, orange, and pink swirl around the sun, mixing in with some purple splotches here and there. I bask in the light the way a lizard might, feeling it soak me in energy. For me, it works better than any coffee ever could. I slide inside again, ready to start the day.

Feeling fully awake now, I skip over to my desk and stuff everything in my backpack, which is also in the colors of the sunset. Planner, check. Biology textbook, check. Assorted notebooks for different subjects, done. Homework folders, various textbooks, my trusty yellow pencil case, and, of course, my music folder. I would never go anywhere without it. That and my flute.

Behind me, Lauren stirs. "Elllllaaaaa! Why are you always up so early? I wanna sleep in for once!" I grin, and chuck a pillow at her. "Nobody asked you to get up with me. You could have slept for a bit more." She groans. "You know what? Since you're up this early, and dressed for school, you're packing my bag." I roll my eyes, because she uses this as an excuse every day. "Fine. But I _might_ leave something here on purpose. 'Cause I'm not your slave."

Thirty minutes later, Lauren is finally out of bed and ready for breakfast, so we head down to the dining hall. Yes, our school has a dining hall. Trojan High School is a boarding school in the suburbs of New York, and we have the largest campus in the entire state. It includes an archery range, indoor pool, golf course, various athletic fields, 3 different buildings dedicated to athletics, a performing arts building, a science building, a mathematics building, and a bunch of other buildings dedicated to various subjects.

Once we arrive at the dining hall, Lauren and I grab some food and sit at our usual table. Our friends arrive a couple minutes later. Austin's rubbing the sleep out of his eyes, Herbert is chewing a stalk of celery, and Derek's reading a book, as usual. I guess it's probably time to introduce my friends.

Lauren's the theatre kid. She likes everything musical related, and also has an obsession with a Broadway actor and singer named Ben Platt. (Like seriously Lauren, nobody cares if he can sing and cry at the same time. NO ONE CARES.) She listens to his music all day long, and also randomly bursts out into song during class. She's also gotten detention multiple times because of it. The sad part is, she's actually really good at singing.

Derek is the nerd by far. All of us are freshmen, but he's taking 6 AP courses, and calculus, all while maintaining a 4.0 GPA and still having free time to not only study for all his classes, but make study guides and flashcards for the entire friend group too. Not only that, but he has the neatest handwriting you've ever seen. It's been voted on in the 8th grade yearbook survey, and it was a unanimous agreement.

Austin is super hyper and super short. But don't mistake him for slow, he's the fastest runner in our grade. He loves annoying the rest of us, and plays pranks on everybody- the teachers, the kids, the principal once. You can always find him in the detention room after school every single day without any breaks.

Herbert was a new kid this year. THS has really tight cliques, so they don't let anybody in that easily. Because of this, we saw Herbert as a misfit, just like the rest of us, so we invited him to sit with us. All the changed was that we got one more member of our club, it's just that the club wasn't called the Chinese Misfits anymore, just the Misfits now.

Who am I? I'm Ella Sun, twin of Lauren Sun, daughter of Yue Sun, a world-renowned musician. I never knew my father, much like everybody in the Misfit group. All of us didn't know one of our parents. We're all Chinese, except for Herbert, of course, and there aren't any cliques that really accept us. So we're a mash of personality: the drama queen, the nerd, the musician, the prankster, the new kid. All of us are different, but they say opposites attract. And it's true. We might have the same characteristics on the outside, like dark brown eyes, black hair, and that classic asian skin tone, but we're all unique on the inside. So although the Misfits make us sound negative, I think that it makes us the most genuine group at THS.

We munch our waffles as we make small talk, Herbert about the evils of eating meat, Derek about color-coding study guides, and Lauren about Ben Platt's new album, which all of us are tired of. I try to chat with Austin for a little bit about Minecraft, but I don't understand anything he says anyway so I just fill my mouth with food.

Once the breakfast block is over, we head off to our respective classes. Austin goes off to first period detention, Derek to AP Quantum Physics, Herbert to Veganism for Vegetarians, and me and Lauren to English. I didn't really like English that much, but I passed with pretty good grades. The same couldn't be said for Austin. Every year, he barely scraped by with a C-. I don't even know how he managed to not be held back every single year.

Our teacher, Mrs. Megaera, just shakes her head when I tell her that Austin's in detention again. "What did he do this time?" Lauren smirks and replies, "Put a thumbtack on Mr. Auden's chair. He went ballistic and sent Austin to Mr. Clark's office with a disciplinary referral." She marks him as in detention, and then we start the class.

3.5 hours and 2 more classes later, Lauren and I are stumbling out of gym, completely drenched in sweat. Coach Hedge made us do push-ups until we collapsed, then had all of us run 5 miles around the track. If it wasn't for the bright sun outside, giving me energy, I would have fainted a long time ago. We head straight for the showers, then change out of our stinky gym uniforms and into our normal school ones. "So…. Hedge looked pissed today." Lauren remarks as she sticks our clothes in the laundry bin. I roll my eyes. "You think? He hasn't worked us this hard since Austin stuck a whoopee cushion in his megaphone and it made farting noises every time he talked!"

The two of us walk outside the athletic center towards the performing arts building. We both sigh as the sunshine hits our face. " Ahhh...yes. The sweet sensation of light on your skin." Lauren sighs dreamily. I laugh. "That's an interesting way to put it." If anybody saw us now, they would only be able to tell us apart by the way we put up our hair and the things we're carrying. I always have my flute, but since Lauren is a vocalist, she doesn't need that stuff. The kids in our grade call us the "music twins," because there's also the "athletic twins," the "scrawny twins," and the "loser twins." When you see the rest of the names, they make ours sound like compliments.

"Well, this is my stop." I say as we arrive at the orchestra room. Sir Galway (he makes us call him Sir) is already on the podium, even though I'm 5 minutes early. "Oh good, Ella," he says. "I need you to fill in for Anna today. Is that alright by you? Her bass is in locker number 42." I nod and head over to the instrument lockers. "Sure, that's fine by me."

See, the thing is, I can play every instrument the school has, and more that the school doesn't. It doesn't matter if I've never seen it before, I just pick it up and the fingerings just come flooding into my brain. All I have to do is read the music and my fingers do all the work. Because of this, I'm the school's resident instrumental substitute. I play flute usually, but if somebody isn't here, I take their place. Since both the band and orchestra want me, I'm also allowed to go to Band instead of taking a foreign language course, because that was really the only thing that wasn't required on a high school transcript.

I unpack the giant string instrument and pluck the strings. E, A, D, G. I frown. The G is way too sharp. I adjust accordingly, and play it again. E, A. D, G. Now we're good. The rest of the orchestra starts to file in, and Sir Galway starts the class. I do just fine on the bass part, although I've never seen it before.

**A.N. look up Sir James Galway! He's a flute player! So am I, in case you haven't guessed that by now!**

Orchestra ends, and I head off to lunch. It goes by as usual, with Austin dumping salad on Herbert's head, and Derek throwing a textbook at Austin, Lauren singing Taylor Swift at the top of her lungs, et cetera. Once the bell rings, all of the Misfits have a free period together. Usually we rotate through the people to choose where we go. Today, it's my turn.

"So, whose turn is it to pick today?" Austin asks, rubbing his head. "Mine," I reply, "And we're all going to the archery range!" "ELLAAAA!" Lauren whines. "You say that every time! Can't we go to the theater for once?" Derek pokes her. "We go to the theater when it's your turn anyway. No need to make your sister do it too. Plus, everybody knows Austin needs space to run around."

It was true. Austin was already twitching like he was going to explode. We hurried down to the archery range, and both Austin and I took off like rockets, but him to race across the grass and me to the rack of bows and quivers.

Noah, a boy known for being a stalker in our grade, comes up behind me. I internally groan. He's been following me for the past week, and won't take a hint. "Hey Sunshine," he purrs into the back of my neck. "Wanna have fun in my room tonight?" I knee him in the crotch. "F**k off." While he's bent over in pain, I grab a bow and quiver and run to the target the farthest from him. I nock an arrow, draw the bowstring, and fire. Bulls-eye. I shoot again and again. I split the previous arrow right down the center, every single time.

By this time, Noah is up and walking again, though with a slight limp. He's inching towards my friend group, who are talking by the archery racks. I notice something weird. Noah has something protruding out of his butt like a scorpion tail. Was that a side effect of being kneed in the crotch? Just in case, I decide to nock an arrow. He gets closer, and closer, until his tail shoots something like a thorn out of it, straight at Lauren's head.

I let the arrow fly, and it intercepts the thorn in midair, knocking it out of the air. The arrow slams into the rack, a mere half-inch from Lauren's face. Needless to say, being the drama queen she was, she started screaming. Noah grinned evilly at Derek. "Let's see… one, two, three, FOUR half-bloods and a satyr! You'll make a very tasty dinner!" And he pounced.

Coach Hedge chose right then to make an appearance. "DIE, CUPCAKE!" He hollered as he bashed Noah's face in with his baseball bat. Derek rolled out of the way as Noah face-planted in the ground. Herbert was running around, saying "Oh-what-do-I-do-what-do-I-do!" over and over and over again, and Lauren was still screaming. As far as I could tell, she hadn't gasped for breath yet. I was impressed by her lung capacity. Austin picked up a bow and bashed Noah over the head with it, but the thing was already getting up again. Coach wouldn't keep him down forever.

"Ella!" Coach Hedge yells. "Your flute! Hit him with it!" My flute? My mother gave it to me for my birthday when I turned 12. She told me it was also made with a certain type of bronze, which gave it a unique tone and made sure it would never dent or break. Well, things were getting really weird anyway, so what's the harm in poking a scorpion guy in the crotch with a flute, right?

I quickly grab the three parts of my flute and slide them together, and wield the bronze stick like a sword. Coach rolled Noah, with his face a bloody mess, over onto his back, and I drove my 2.5 foot bronze stick into his crotch. Again. Noah's crotch was having a really bad day today.

Noah wailed in pain, then burst into yellow dust. Now THAT was weird. I knew it must hurt to be stabbed multiple times in your private area in one day, but was that really how men acted? I didn't think so. Coach Hedge stood up, and dusted himself off. "Well, Herbert, the monster's dead. Let's get these four to camp."

I ran over to Lauren. "You can stop screaming now." She didn't hear me, probably because she was still wailing at the top of her lungs. "LAUREN!" I yell. "STOP SCREAMING!" That snaps her out of it. She collapses in my arms, gasping for breath like a fish out of water. I turn to Coach Hedge and Herbert. "What do you mean by camp? It's November!" "Well, this is a year-round place. We'll explain once we get there." Herbert says.

Now they just expect the four of us to go to this year round "camp" that we know nothing of. Great. Just great. Hedge looks kinda intimidating though, so Derek, Austin, Lauren, and I decide that it can't hurt. Right?

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**Yay! Chapter one is finished!**

**Also, this is sort of like real life characters incorporated into a story. Thanks to Derek, Austin, and Lauren for letting me add them in. (Sorry for the excess amounts of detention Austin.)**

**Thanks for reading!**


	2. In Which I Go to Summer Camp in November

**Meow! It's me again, with another chapter of Daughter of Sunlight! There's a lot going on this chapter, and you might see some new ships!**

**Enjoy!**

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_Last time, Ella and her friends were attacked by a manticore, which Ella defeated with a flute. Now Coach Hedge and her friend Herbert expect Ella and her friends to go to this summer camp that they know next to nothing about, in November._

Chapter 2

Coach Hedge and Herbert tell us to wait outside the school buildings while they contact camp. We sit on the ledge of a fountain near the front entrance. To our surprise, Hedge fishes a golden coin out of his pocket and throws it right into the mist created by the fountain. "O Iris, Goddess of the Rainbow, show me Nico di Angelo."

A guy's face appears in the mist. He looks a couple years older than us, dressed in all black with long black hair. His skin is really pale, and he has a silver skull ring on his left hand. "Hey Coach. You got them?" Hedge nods. "All four. Two are twins. Can you also bring Serenity, 'cause we're such a large load? Plus, Will is gonna kill you if you take that many people at once alone." The guy nods. "She hasn't seen daylight in months, it'll be good for her. I think she likes sulking in our cabin." Herbert smiles. "Thanks Nico! Tell Basil I love her!" The guy (his name is Nico, remember that Ella), smiles too. "No problem. See you guys in a bit." With that, he swipes through the mist, and the image dissolves.

Hedge grins like a madman, which I guess he is. Nobody else would ever wield a baseball bat like that. "Our ride's gonna be here any minute now." Suddenly, two people dressed in all black step out from the shadows of the trees. I could've sworn they definitely weren't there before. Both were dressed in all black, and one of them was Nico, the guy we saw in the mist. There was another girl next to him though, she looked about our age. The girl had long, straight black hair falling down to her waist, and her skin was so pale I would have thought she had albinism if it wasn't for her hair and eyes. Her eyes were as dark as night, and she was wearing a black crop top with black leggings, and black boots with silver spikes. The glare she gives us is one that says, 'Don't mess with me, or I'll send you to hell. The hard way." All of a sudden, I was both terrified and interested in her.

Herbert waves. "Nico! Serenity! (so that girl's name is Serenity! I store that information away for use later.) Over here!" Nico grins and heads over to us, and Serenity reluctantly follows. She hisses when she steps into the daylight, and immediately draws back. I tilt my head at her. Both Lauren and I have always hated the darkness, and we would give anything to stay in the sunlight all day. Yet Serenity can't even step into the light. Nico groans. "Come on, Serenity! You shouldn't have stayed indoors all summer! Now's your time to get used to light again!" Serenity shakes her head, and speaks. "No way you're getting me into that frying pan! I'm not going to be cooked today, thank you very much!"

Her voice was like liquid silver, melodically floating over everything else. She had the slightest hint of a British accent, the same way Nico had a slight Italian accent. Nico rolls his eyes. "Sorry about my sister. She's a little sensitive to light." Little was the understatement of the century. Even now, Serenity was backed up against a tree, trying to get as far away from the sunlight as possible. "If you want me to help shadow-travel them, you're gonna have to bring them over here!" She yells. "I'm not getting any closer!" The pale-skinned boy sighs. "Well, we're just going to have to walk over to her, I guess. She doesn't usually bite."

The Misfits plus Coach Hedge and Nico walked over to the clump of trees Serenity was under.

"Okay, everybody join hands!" Nico ordered. "This might feel weird during your first time shadow travelling." Somehow, I find myself gripping Serenity's hand, and then the world folds in on itself and everything turns black.

My first thought was, _This does not feel good. At all. I like sunlight much better!_ Then I felt like I was being sucked in one direction. Maybe it was my imagination, but I could very faintly hear Lauren screaming from beside me.

We were dumped on a patch of grass, on top of a hill. I immediately bent over and threw up in the grass, as did Lauren. The only difference was that Lauren fainted. I was feeling a little light-headed myself, but the sunlight flooded every cell in my body, and I felt a little better. Serenity seemed fine, but then stepped into the sunlight and didn't even flinch. She just face-planted on the ground. Derek was jumping up and down excitedly, already asking Nico questions on how this "shadow traveling" thing worked. It probably had to do with Quantum Physics. Nico swayed on his feet a little, but managed to stay upright and answer Derek's questions to the best of his abilities. Austin was trying to pickpocket Serenity, but as far as I could tell, she didn't have any pockets.

A golden haired teenager came jogging towards us from a cluster of various houses, cabins, and other structures at the top of the same hill we were on. "Nico!" He yelled. "Are you alright?" "I'm fine, Will," Nico replied, "But I don't think the rest are." He gestured to us, and Will brightened like he just noticed we were there. "You guys must be the new campers! Come on, I'll take y'all to the infirmary first, since shadow travelling isn't too pleasant the first time." He slung Lauren over one shoulder, Serenity over the other, and headed towards a white building near the center of the camp. (camp, right? I think this is the place. My life is so messed up right now.) Derek, Austin and I followed, but Herbert and Coach Hedge yelled that they were going to tend to the strawberry fields and went in the other direction.

Will plopped Lauren and Serenity down on cots in the building, and then turned to us. "Welcome to Camp Half-Blood! Well, it's really more of a town now, but we still call it camp. This- "he gestured all around him- "is the new infirmary, designed by Annabeth Chase, daughter of Athena and Architect of Olympus! As is every single cabin, house, temple, and shrine. Literally, she even petitioned Chiron to rebuild all the cabins, one by one, after the war with Gaea." He said, grumbling the last part.

Derek gasped, so dramatically Lauren would be proud. "You mean Greek Gods are real? I thought that the names and the manticore couldn't be coincidence!" What the heck is Derek talking about? I'm an atheist. Gods are not real. End of story. Will grinned. "You've already figured it out, haven't you? Well, I'm gonna get these two up and moving, and then y'all can watch the orientation video together! Nico, give the awake ones some ambrosia, will you? And get some yourself. You look like you're about to pass out too."

Nico led us into another room, this one with some cabinets and a couple chairs, and told us to sit down. He then handed us each a square of some golden thing. If brownies were gold, this would be it. "It'll make you feel better, but don't eat too much at once. You might burn up if you do." He unwrapped his own square and takes a bite. Immediately, his eyes look more alert. Derek and Austin each take a bite of theirs too. They sigh in delight together. "Tastes like my mother's spring rolls." Austin says. Derek shakes his head. "No, it tastes like _xiao long bao_." Soon, the two of them are in a full-fledged fight about what the golden brownie tastes like. I roll my eyes, and eat my ambrosia. It tastes like hash browns. I've always loved potatoes. "Excuse them. They're stupid. Well, Austin is. Derek is most definitely not stupid." Nico leaned forward, a spark of interest in his eyes. "Tell me about him. He might be a son of Athena, from what he's figured out already."

I nod. "Sure. So all of us are fourteen years old. Lauren, my twin over there, is a singer and actress, and she's done a lot of Broadway shows and other stuff like that. Austin is a prankster who is way too hyper. Derek is super smart and is taking 6 AP courses and calculus. I can play every instrument you give me, and my hearing is really good." Nico slowly absorbs this information. "That's because you're not completely human. One of your parents was a Greek God, the other was mortal. That gives you powers that no mortal would have." I'm not surprised by this. Derek has already been talking about Greek mythology for a while now, I figured that had to be what happened to us. "So… who's your parents, and how do I know who mine is?" Nico laughs. "Haven't you figured it out yet, with all of the shadow-traveling and darkness stuff? Hades, lord of the underworld, god of the dead. And to find your godly parent, you have to be claimed to make it official. Once claimed, we move you into your respective parent's cabin. Until then, you stay in Annabeth's newly-designed Unclaimed Cabin."

Will walks into the room, pulling Austin and Derek apart. "Good news. Lauren and Serenity are awake and fine. However-"-he gestures to Austin and Derek, who each sport a bloody nose and a multitude of bruises- "these two are not. Eat your ambrosia!" He barks at them. "And stop the fighting!" Nico sighs, and gives Will a small peck on the cheek. "I forgot to tell them it tastes different for everybody." Austin and Derek gape at him. "You mean I just gave Derek a bloody nose for nothing?" Austin says. "Shut up, idiot." Derek elbows him, and they're back at it again.

Will pulls them apart again, and put them in giant dog kennels on opposite sides of the room. "We had the Hephaestus Cabin make these for a friendly hellhound named Mrs. O'Leary. She went with her owner to New Rome though." New Rome? I guess I'll learn in a second. Nico turns on a TV, and tells us, "This is the updated version of the orientation video. The other one was from the '70s."

The screen shows 10 people standing on Half-Blood Hill. The guy on the left was about 17, with sea green eyes and black windswept hair. A blond haired girl with stormy gray eyes stood next to him, and next to her was an African-American girl of about 14 with golden eyes. A burly Chinese (Yay! Asian people!) guy was next to the 14 year old, and then a dude with electric blue eyes, gold-rimmed glasses, and blond hair was next to the Chinese guy. Then came a super pretty girl with a blue feather in her brown hair. Her eyes were changing colors, which I thought was really cool. A scrawny Latino kid came next, he was fiddling with a bunch of scrap metal. A tall, Hispanic girl with black hair was next. She radiated an aura of power. Then came Nico, and then Coach Hedge.

I could tell at once that these people (and satyr) had been through many battles and seen many things. They introduce themselves as Percy Jackson, son of Poseidon, Annabeth Chase, daughter of Athena (so SHE'S the famous architect,) Hazel Levesque, daughter of Pluto, ("She's my half-sister." Nico says.) Frank Zhang, son of Mars, Jason Grace, son of Jupiter, Piper McLean, daughter of Aphrodite (that explained how she was so pretty), Leo Valdez, son of Hephaestus, Reyna Ramirez-Arellano, daughter of Bellona, Nico, who we already knew, and Coach Hedge.

"Basically, a bunch of evil monsters joined up with the Titans to try and overthrow Olympus, failed because both camps were working against it, and went back to Tartarus." Percy says. "And then Gaea decided to wake, and had a bunch of ugly giant children." Annabeth kicks him. "Once the gods realized Gaea was waking, they swapped Percy and Jason's memory, sent them to different camps, yadda yadda yadda. We found each other and embarked on a quest." Hazel continued. "Things happened, we saved the world, and the camps remain in contact after the war." ("It's been two years since the war ended." Will tells us. "Percy and Annabeth and Jason and Piper are in college in New Rome, Leo's here at camp, Reyna is still praetor, and so is Frank, and Hazel goes to New Rome's high school. But Percy and Annabeth are coming to visit tomorrow!")

Frank says, "Annabeth is designing renovations for both camps, and she's also planning a Greek equivalent of New Rome at Camp Half-Blood. It's called New Athens, and demigods ages 18 and older will be issued a house with people that they can request." Jason continues. "There is also going to be a new infirmary, cabin renovations, an Unclaimed Cabin so the Hermes one won't be as cramped, new temples, shrines, and a line of Kymopoleia merchandise available at both camps!" Piper laughs. "By the time you're watching this, Camp Half-Blood will have a library, (cue squeal from Derek as a panorama of a giant marble building pops up on screen,) a newly renovated amphitheatre, (cue squeal from Lauren), multiple cabin extensions, a neighborhood for older demigods, an archery range, (cue a "YES!" From me,) Bunker 9 in the Woods at CHB, forges, crafting buildings, a training arena, a track for running, (Austin grins,) free seating at the newly renovated dining pavilion, and a new, separate infirmary as well." Leo adds, "Bunker Nine is open for everybody to tour and admire, but you can't touch anything unless you're a Hephaestus camper. So, nice try, pranksters, but you'll have a very painful, fiery death if you touch them." (Austin frowns.)

Reyna speaks. "The Hunters of Artemis reside in the Artemis Cabin, and men who enter have a very painful death that is not at all quick. Please refrain from entering Hera's cabin as well, unless you want to be turned into a peacock." Nico leaves a message for the Hades Campers. "Don't shadow travel too much, or you'll literally fade into the darkness permanently, like I almost did." Then Hedge threatens misbehavers with his baseball bat, and the orientation video is over.

As it turns out, Derek was taking notes the entire time and couldn't wait to go to the library. Apparently, Nico was in charge of arming us, so we headed over to the forges to find some (highly dangerous) weapons.

As we're heading to the forges, Lauren annoys us half to death with Share Your Address by Ben Platt. "Is she always like this?" Nico grumbles to me. "Yeah, pretty much." I respond. "When she gets obsessed, she gets _really_ obsessed." "Too soon too fast, but this could last, I WANNA SHARE YOUR ADDRESS!" Serenity snapped a few moments later. She tackled Lauren and pinned her to the ground, and brought out a serrated dagger made of some super dark metal. "Sing one more word," she hissed, "And you will lose your head." Lauren nodded her head, eyes wide. "I think we're going to get along just _great_." She says sarcastically. Once Serenity helps her up off the ground, and sheathes her dagger, we continue our walk. I grin. Nobody's ever gotten Lauren to shut up just like that.

We arrive at the forges, where it was sweltering inside. I recognized the Latino elf dude named Leo. Will did say he was still here at Camp Half-Blood. He was bare-chested, but all it did was show off his scrawny form. When Leo saw us, he grinned and ran over, not noticing that his nose was on fire. "Hi Neeks! New campers to arm?" "Your nose is on fire," Austin pointed out, "And you don't have a shirt." Leo glanced down. "Oh. Right." He patted the flame out, not even flinching at the heat. "So! Why don't we just have you guys try out different weapons, unless you have preference?" I shoot my hand up into the air. "Bow and arrows, for sure." Lauren jumps up and down. "I want a black serrated dagger like Serenity's! But maybe not black. That's an ugly color." She shudders. I would have loved to agree with her, but I didn't like the murderous look in Serenity's eyes.

Leo leads us into a slightly cooler weapons room, and shows me their collection of bows and arrows. He explains that all of these were made with either Celestial bronze or Imperial gold, now that they're friends with the Roman camp. My eye catches on a golden bow with music notes carved into the metal. I pick it up, and I feel its magic resonate through my body. Leo nods. "Good choice. I made that one myself. It remembers its owner, and won't let anybody else wield it without the owner's permission." I smile. This could be useful. "So, it's mine now?" Leo nods. "Yup. Just like that." Derek picks out a battle-axe, and Austin finds a Celestial bronze sword he thought was shiny, and worthy of being his weapon. All of us had a weapon now except Lauren, who was still looking at the throwing knives and daggers.

"I still want a serrated dagger like Serenity's! But, like, not _black_. EW! I want a golden serrated dagger set! I wanna throw them!" She yells dramatically, throwing her arms up into the air. Leo smirks. "How about this set? It comes with a paired wristband, so they return to you afterwards if you press a button. They'll come flying back and lodge in their sheathes, without stabbing or maiming anybody. These daggers are bronze though, not gold." Lauren grins. "Yes! Thank you so much!" She pecks Leo on the cheek, and his hair lights on fire again. "Uhh… Leo? You're on fire." Derek says. He doesn't try to pat it out this time. Instead, he just dumps a nearby cup of water on his head. "Don't mind Lauren," I say. "She's just overdramatic, and super sappy." He nods. "Don't worry about Uncle Leo. He has super hair drying powers! To prove his point, his hands light on fire and he gently torches his hair until it's dry.

I laugh along with the rest of my friends. However weird my world has just gotten, this place isn't bad at all.

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**This chapter was fun to write. I especially liked writing about Serenity, because she is literally my reaction to anything that iloveplayrehearsal13 (Lauren's based off of her) sings in real life. I would totally do that too, if I had a Stygian Iron serrated dagger.**

**Thanks for reading!**


	3. In Which I Find an Archery Buddy

**After this chapter, I think I'm going to be taking a short break from writing fanfiction, for all my stories. The most stressful time of year is rolling around, and I can't write two or three chapters at once while dealing with the classwork load teachers pile on me, NYSSMA (for those of you in New York that are musicians, you know what I mean,) I have a math competition coming up that I'm going to screw up, finals are going to be here soon, I'm going to be off to sleepaway camp in the summer, and life is just hectic. I might update sporadically, but seeing as I haven't even finished writing chapter 5 yet before posting this, the next chapter might not be for a while. I'm super behind schedule. Sorry!**

**Anyway, enjoy!**

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_Ella and her friends just arrived at camp. They've met Nico, Leo, and Will, as well as Serenity, another daughter of Hades. They've been armed with weapons as well. Now, they're ready to explore the camp. _

Chapter 3

Derek was itching to see the library, and Austin wanted to run around the track. Lauren and I decided to test our new weapons at the archery range. We both knew we wanted ranged weapons right away because none of us ever missed a target, moving or stationary.

We went undefeated in dodgeball, basketball, and every other sport that involved throwing a ball somewhere, right up until we were split onto different teams for dodgeball in 8th grade. I guess the teachers finally had some sense knocked into their heads. We had played until it was just us, and dragged it out until the bell rang, and even then, none of us had come even close to getting out. It was a tie, because we had to go to our next class.

I grabbed a quiver of arrows from a nearby rack. A girl with short brown hair, dyed green at the ends, came up to me. "New campers? I'm Kayla Knowles, daughter of Apollo. I take it you guys know what you're doing here." She gestures to my bow and arrows, and Lauren's daggers. Lauren's already gripping one in each hand, eyeing the nearest target like she wanted to rip right through the wood. I nod. "I'm Ella, and this is Lauren. It's only been a couple hours, so we're still unclaimed."

Kayla smiles. "That's okay. Everybody's welcome here. If you want, I can help you practice your aim with moving targets. You guys seem like you can do it." She looks at Lauren, and I follow her gaze. Lauren's already hit bulls-eyes with every single one of her daggers. She presses a button on her bronze wristband, and they fly back into her pouch. She throws them again, with speed and deadly accuracy. _Thunk. Thunk. Thunk._ The daggers slam into the targets, hitting dead center. "Lauren!" I call. She turns. "What? Did Ben Platt announce the dates for his tour while we were here? I wanna see him!" I roll my eyes. "No, you idiot. Kayla's agreed to throw small targets into the air for us to shoot."

The daughter of Apollo drags a bin full of bronze shaped birds towards us. "You guys can stand wherever you want. Try to hit as many as possible." We move to various positions around the range, and Lauren readies her daggers while I nock two arrows at once. My bow feels just right, not too tight, not too loose. I don't know how to explain it. It's like the magic has synchronised itself with me.

Kayla grabs two birds in each hand, and throws them up in the air. The birds were probably Leo's work, because they sprouted wings with bronze feathers and started flying around, making chirping noises. I release both arrows, and each takes down a bronze bird. Lauren takes down the other two with well-aimed daggers.

We keep shooting and throwing until the bin is empty and the birds litter the ground. "Help me put these back in, will you?" Kayla says. "You can retrieve your arrows. Good job today, guys! I wouldn't be surprised if you turned out to be my sisters." I smile at the prospect. Will and Kayla were so friendly and cheerful. They'd be awesome half-siblings. "Thanks Kayla!" Lauren says. "See you at dinner!" We head back to the Unclaimed Cabin to put our weapons away.

When we arrive, my flute and backpack are already sitting on a twin bed along with a pair of jean shorts and an orange CHB t-shirt. Lauren claims the cot next to me, plopping down her dagger pouch. Derek is sitting on a bed across from ours, reading some book that he found at the library. Austin is nowhere to be seen, probably trying to prank somebody. Lauren and I decide to drag Derek to the amphitheatre so we can practice our music.

We arrive at the amphitheatre shortly, and I unpack my flute and slide it together. Lauren sits in the stands, saying that I can go first. A girl with blonde hair dyed in rainbow colors on the ends is already there, and they start talking about who knows what. I decided to start with some romantic music, just because it felt right.

Derek trudges in, still sulking because we didn't let him bring his new book, telling him that he "needed fresh air." As I'm playing the opening notes of Molique's Andante from Concerto Opus 69, he makes eye contact with the blond, rainbow-haired girl, and they both freeze, their faces turning bright red. I keep playing, because the romantic music is setting the mood and it's funny. I was about to see how long this 'romantic' moment would last when Lauren wails.

"THIS IS SO CUTE!" She sobs between tears. "I SHIP IT LIKE HERMES EXPRESS! DERYKA IS A POWER COUPLE! I LOVE IT SO MUCH!" Lauren then proceeds to sob dramatically in the stands, blabbering about how wonderful and perfect they were for each other and how it was 'just like her favorite romance novel.' The two demigods (Deryka? Was that a ship now?) broke the eye contact, each turning a brighter red if possible. I groan. "Excuse my twin sister. She's a hopeless, sappy romantic."

"Uh….I'm j-just g-g-gonna go now." Derek stutters, and runs back towards the Unclaimed Cabin. Lauren and I wait until he's out of earshot, and then burst into peals of laughter. Well, Lauren was half-laughing, half-crying, but she's overdramatic. The rainbow girl introduces herself as Erryka, with two r's and a y. **(A.N. I keep on adding OCs into my story with the name Erica, with the same pronunciation but different spelling lmao) **

Erryka's fifteen years old, and a daughter of Iris, the rainbow goddess. She's really pretty too, with tan skin from days in the sun and freckles spread across her face. She also has startling eyes. They're not kaleidoscope eyes like Piper's, but instead, they shift through each color of the rainbow, one by one. Right now, her eyes are violet. And now they're magenta. And now they're a soft pink.

Apparently, children of Iris can summon Iris-messages whenever they want, without the drachma fee. They can also change the color of an object by just touching it, which makes them celebrities in the Hermes Cabin. Erryka once dyed Percy Jackson's hair neon pink for a day, until Annabeth came after her with a knife because he refused to leave his cabin. Children of rainbow goddesses were interesting, I decided. They would be useful for a whole variety of things. Plus, they're all so friendly.

The conch horn for dinner sounds, and we all make our way to the dining pavilion. Derek, Lauren, Austin, and I sit with Nico, Will, and Serenity, because they're the only people that we really know so far. We stare at our empty plates. "Uh.. how do you get food?" Derek asks. "You just ask your plate for whatever you want. No restrictions, unless you're under the drinking age." Will responds. Austin frowns. "But what if I want beer?" "Then you'll have to get the Hermes kids to smuggle it in for you." Nico replies, matter-of-factly. "That's what everybody else does."

Serenity doesn't really say anything, so Lauren decides to start a conversation. "So, how did you guys get to camp?" Will answers first. "I was found by a satyr named Roger. He died during the Titan War. It was relatively straightforward though. We just headed off to camp after the school year ended." Nico goes next. "I was born in 1924. I know, I don't look over 90 years old. That's because my sister and I were dropped off in the Lotus Casino, a place that stops time in Los Angeles, after our mother was killed by Zeus. When we were freed, a couple years ago, Bianca has to go off on a quest to save Annabeth with Percy, and she didn't come back. I became obsessed with parentage and everything, and, well, that's how Serenity came into play." He gestures to the dark-haired girl next to him.

"Do you want to continue the story?" Nico asks. Serenity hisses in response, but speaks. "My mother was a British businesswoman in the 1980s. She went on a business trip to America, had an affair with Hades, and dumped me in an orphanage near LA as soon as I was born. She went back to England shortly after." Serenity pauses here to shovel dark chocolate cake into her mouth. "I ran away when I was eight. I ended up in the Lotus Casino because they didn't care that I didn't have money, they just gave me a cash card and a place to stay. That was all I cared about. Nico and I met in the Casino, and we started doing everything together. Then, one day, he just disappeared, and I soon forgot about him, because the Casino does that to people."

Nico nods. "Alecto, the Fury who got Bianca and me out, wiped our memories again just to be sure. But not in the Lethe this time, which is why I remembered Serenity when I started looking for traces of my mother. I also remembered that we used to summon skeleton mice together, and realized that she was also a child of Hades. So I shadow travelled into the Casino, found her, and brought her to camp."

"THAT WAS SO BEAUTIFUL! THE PERFECT LOVE STORY!" Lauren sobs yet again. "IF ONLY YOU GUYS WEREN'T HALF-SIBLINGS, IT WOULD BE A PERFECT SHIP!" Derek pinches her. "You do realize you said that about me and, uh, Erryka too, right?" She nods, tears streaming down her face. "It was so romantic though! Even better than Ben Platt!" Will's eyes widen. "You like Ben Platt too? I thought I'd never find someone else!" Lauren squeals and leaps across the table to hug him. "YAY! FELLOW PLATTINATOR!"

By this time, the entire camp is gawking at our table. "I'M GONNA SING EASE MY MIND!" Lauren declares. With that, she burst into song.

"_Most days, I wake up with a pit in my chest_

_There are thoughts that I can't put to rest_

_There's a worry that I can't place….."_

Then we hear a collection of thumps, and snoring. I look around. Half of the camp is face-planted in their food, sound asleep. Will gasps. "You have SunSong too! Which means… both of you are my siblings!" Thanks a lot for being dramatic, dad, I think, because just then, two identical lyres, framed by a bow and arrows, burst over our heads in a shower of golden light. Derek, who was trying to teach Serenity quantum physics, looks up. "Huh? Is this what claiming is?" Nico nods. "And look what you have over your head. I look above Derek's head. He has an owl floating over his head, bathing his face in gray light. "Austin! This is so cool! I'M A DAUGHTER OF APOLLO!" Lauren shrieks, turning to where Austin was.

Or should be. The short, scrawny Chinese guy was gone. We saw him behind Chiron, trying to fish something out of Chiron's pocket. Unluckily for him, Chiron caught him. And then the caduceus bursts over his head.

Chiron canters forward, ignoring the fact that Austin is being dragged along by the arm. "All hail Ella and Lauren Sun, daughters of Apollo, Derek Wang, son of Athena, and Austin Lu, son of Hermes."

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**And that is chapter 3, everybody! Yippee! I prewrote 3 chapters in 2 days, are you proud? And each of them are at least 2, 000 words each! I think chapter 2 was over 3,000 words though. It was an eventful chapter.**

**Thanks for reading!**


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